Battery post terminal



Dec. 30, 1958 B. TECKER BATTERY POST TERMINAL Filed Aug. 5, 1956 INVENTOR. BENJAMIN \scxaz applied or removed .by the '1 time and-with little .diificulty.

finite States Patent 2,866,359 BATTERY POSTTERMINAL -BenjaminTecker, Philadelphia, Pa. Application August-3, 1956,- Serial No; 601,896 1 Claim. (Cl. 339-232) This invention relates to, a'device' designed 'toifit-upon the conventional, tapered post 'of' an ordinary vehicle battery, and further cable clamp, in amannerto afford protection to the'bat- --.teryagainst damage while at the samehtime promoting adapted to receive .a: conventional ease of attachment and'detachment'of theconventional battery cable.

The .mainobject of the present invention is torprovide a device which-can beapplied to the conventional battery posh-without anymodification or redesign whatever of ean be applied to or removcdfromothebattery post without requiringskilledhelp soithat theidevice can-be so vehiclel'owner in -a minim-um Still another object which, when installed, perfect contact.

A further object is to so design the device as to permit a change in batteries or in cables to be accomplished easily, With the expenditure of only a few moments.

Still another object is to so design the device as to eliminate the need for tools to sieze the acid-eaten nut when the cable is being removed.

A further object of importance is to so form the device as to insure that the battery will not be broken when the device is being applied to or removed from the same.

Yet another object of importance is to provide a connecting means between the post and cable that will be very inexpensive, will be usable with any conventional battery and cable clamp, and will operate efliciently and permanently.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claim appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure l is a perspective view showing the device applied to a conventional battery, a fragmentary portion of which is illustrated, a conventional cable clamp being applied to the device; and

Figure 2 is a sectional view substantially on line 22 of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the reference letter B designates a conventional vehicle storage battery, having the usual tapered posts P. A conventional cable clamp has been designated by the reference letter C. In this connection, the device constituting the present invention, which has been generally designated at 10, is so designed as to be useful with a conventional battery and with a conventional cable clamp, so that manufacturers need not retool in any way, the device being, in effect, an attachment which can be merchandised in automobile accessory stores, and which can be applied to or removed is to provide a device as stated Wlll eliminate corrosion and give from the battery by the vehicle owner With little difiicultyor :lossoftime.

'The'device 10 constituting'theinvention includes a body which would be in-a preferred embodiment, made of :brass, although the ;body-could be made as well of any other current conducting metal, such as aluminum, etc. The body 12 of the-.deviceat its lower end is externally Jshapedtoreceive a:conventional wrench as shown in w-Figurel, sozthat a holding wrench can beplaced thereon 10' forccounter-torque when atightening or loosening of the nut upon the post is being carried out.

The wrench receiving lower po-rtion12 of :thebody is formed, on one of the facets there0f,'witl1 an' outwardly projecting, relatively low boss 14. in' which is centrally :formed :a :threaded opening. communicating-at its :inner end with.atdownwardlyopening, tapered, post-receiving recessr15; of-theibody. The threaded opening is adapted to -receive asetscrew 16,- whiclrwhen turned home against iithe'gpost SWiftlYiflIldZfiXGdlY secures the device to? the post, effecting: a full: electrical connection therebetween. Integral with the wrench receiving lowerportion of the 'body' is-La tapered portion l8,.at' the base of which a circumferentialshoulder :20 is formed on which seats Lthe conventional cableclamp Cwhen. said clamp is fitted 'upon'rthe tapered portion "18. v tapered portion is integralwith an axial, upwardly project- -The. upper end of the ingaextensionill"externally threaded to receive a nut 24.

At thebase of the extension 22 there is defined a circumferential shoulder26 limiting movement of the nut 1-24 dovvnwardly upon the r axial extension 22.

In use of the devicepand assuming that it is to be instalied upona*battery--a lreadyin use, the first step is to --remove=the cables-from the posts of the bat-tery. The de- -EViC6'- WOHld besold-in pairs with .o-ne -of-the-two devices being marked positive and the other negative, the ordinary electrical signs denoting these characteristics being used to provide a suitable designation of the individual components of the pair. The device marked with the positive sign would be placed upon the positive post of the battery and the other upon the negative post of the battery. Then, the bodies of the respective devices would be tightened by means of the set screws 16, using a conventional wrench. This connects the devices tightly and permanently to the battery posts.

Then, the nut 24 is removed from the axial extension 22 of each of the devices, after which the cable terminal C is placed upon the tapered portion 18. Then, the nut 24 is replaced, and is turned home against the top surface of the cable terminal, forcing the terminal downwardly upon the tapered portion 18 and producing perfect contact between the portion 18 and the cable terminal.

As previously noted, the lower portion 12 is so shaped that a holding wrench can be placed thereon to counter the torque applied to the device when the nut 24 is being tightened or loosened.

To replace an old cable, one need merely remove the nut 24 and place the new cable upon the portion 18, after which the nut is tightened.

,When a new battery is being installed, the devices would be removed from the posts of the old battery, and would be placed upon the new battery in the manner previously described herein.

It will be seen that a connecting device such as illustrated and described herein is so designed as to accomplish the several objects previously stated in this application, with damage to the battery or to the cable terminal prevented. Further, the device can be installed or removed with maximum ease and speed, and without requirement of special tools. Still another feature of the invention of importance since obviously a device such as illustrated and described herein is not commercially feasible unless it can be applied to and used in association with cable terminals and batteries of conventional design, already in use.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor changes in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A device for providing a connection between a battery post and a cable clamp, comprising: a body formed from a single piece of electrically conductive material, said body being elongated in a vertical direction and being progressively stepped down in cross sectional area in a direction from the lower to the upper extremity thereof, the body being formed at its lower end with a polygonal, wrench-receiving, external cross sectional shape continuing from the lower extremity of the body to a location short of the midlength part'of the body, the body havingat its lower end a downwardly opening, tapered recess complementary to a correspondingly tapered battery post over which the body is to be applied, said recess in the sense of a direction axially of the body extending for a distance close to but short of the midlength point of the body, the wrench-receiving polygonal external surface of the body extending a distance longitudinally of the body slightly less than the length of the recess, the body having a radial, threaded passage extending from the outer surface thereof into communication with the recess intermediate the opposite ends of the recess, said body having, intermediate its ends, a tapered portion corresponding generally to the taper of the battery post but having a larger diameter at its larger and than the diameter of the larger end of the recess, said tapered portion of the body at its smaller end being of a diameter greater than the diameter of the smaller end of the recess, the body having, at the base of the tapered portion, a circumferential shoulder substantially coplanar with the inner end wall of the recess, the body being of externally circular cross-sectional configuration from said shoulder to the adjacent end of the polygonal, wrench-receiving surface of the body, said body at its upper end being formed with an axially, upwardly projecting extension integral with the smaller end of the tapered portion and formed to a diameter substantially less than the diameter of the smaller end of the tapered portion to define a shoulder at the base of said extension extending circumferentially of the body, the last named shoulder being of narrow width, said tapered portion of the body being adapted to receive a battery cable clamp having a tapered surface complementary to the taper of said tapered portion of the body, the bottom surface of the cable clamp bearing against the first named shoulder and the top surface of the cable clamp being coplanar with the second named shoulder and extending about the second named shoulder; a set screw threadedly engaged in said radial, threaded passage to secure the body to a battery post; and a nut threaded upon said extension and bearing against said second named shoulder, said nut projecting radially outwardly of the extension beyond the outer periphery of the second named shoulder to bear against the top surface of the cable clamp.'

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,507,936 Schmitt Sept. 9, 1924 1,630,218 Rutherford May 24, 1927 1,997,963 Carlile Apr. 16, 1935 2,110,055 Richter Mar. 1, 1938 

